Dear Editor,
Trump says Iran is the biggest sponsor of state sponsored terrorism. It is said that the first casualty of war is Truth.
No, the biggest sponsors of state sponsored terrorism in the world are the United States and Israel. Trump speaks of Peace through Strength. Actually, U.S. foreign policy is based on Might Makes Right. The U.S. military has overthrown numerous governments, including a democratic Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, Chile in 1973, and numerous others (see William Blum’s Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since WW II).
The U.S. Intelligence community under Tulsi Gabbard says Iran was NOT building a nuclear weapon. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khameni had told his country not to build a nuclear weapon. This Israeli-American attack on Iran is actually all about “regime change.” Netanyahu has been hoping for this for 30 years! Trump is the “puppet” while Netanyahu is the “puppet-master.” The pro-Israel lobby is strong and many Congresspeople support Israel unconditionally, otherwise, if they don’t, they will be targeted for stepping out of line (see Rep. Pappas, Rep. Goodlander, and Senator Hassan).
Incidentally, both the U.S. and Israel violate international law with impunity. Moreover, Trump violates our Constitution by acting without consulting Congress. He should be impeached and removed. This person poses a grave danger to U.S. security and to world peace.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best on April 4, 1967, that “the U.S. is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” It was true then during the American War on Vietnam, and it is still true today.
Will Thomas
N.H. Veterans for Peace
Auburn, N.H.
Will:
The right will denounce Veterans for Peace for opposing Trump’s illegal actions—that is, for upholding their oath to defend the Constitution.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Our Pro-Life Presidential Baby-Killer
Dear Editor:
Donald Trump once said, “I’m proud to be the most pro-life president in American history.” I guess his view of being “pro-life” only extends to fetuses being carried by American women. Unfortunately, his record on protecting life, especially those of children living in poor nations, is far from being “pro-life.”
As a result of the Trump administration’s destruction of the Agency for International Development (USAID), whose primary mission is to prevent starvation and provide basic healthcare, the number of deaths, especially among children, is staggering. As a result of slashing about 80 percent of USAID’s grants, about 103 people, mostly children, are dying every hour. So far more than 300,000 people, according to Boston University infectious disease specialist Dr. Brooke Nichols, have already died as a result. Also, Ryan Cooper of The American Prospect reported that about 1,500 babies a day are born HIV-positive because the Trump cuts have stopped providing HIV medications to their mothers. As a result, these 1,500 babies per day, and their mothers, will go on to develop AIDS and will eventually succumb without treatment. In addition, these infected women will be able to spread HIV to sexual partners and during any subsequent pregnancies.
The policies of the Trump administration and the Republican Congress reflect anything but a “pro-life” agenda. Their slashing of USAID as well as domestic programs such as Medicaid, SNAP, public health, cancer research, environmental protection, food safety and much more will result in increased deaths here at home.
Rich DiPentima
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
According to the Profitable Corporate Media Stylebook, pointing out this deadly contradiction is prima facie evidence of media bias, and therefore is taboo. Thanks to our phenomenal level of seniority, we are grandfathered—hell, we’re great-great-&c-grandfathered—and therefore exempt from such restraint.
Common sense told us that shutting down USAID would kill a lot of non-white, non-American people.
Thanks for ‘bringing the receipts,’ as the modern idiom has it, so that we might have a better understanding of just how many. It’s grim but important news.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Another Pro-Life Lie
Dear Editor:
As reported in Seacoastonline, “the addition of a five-mile median dividers to Interstate 95 will be delayed until late 2026 after bids for the project came in more than $2.3 million higher than the state’s estimate.
The state planned to install the barriers in 2025 following multiple tragedies in 2024.
Five people were killed in I-95 crashes in New Hampshire last year, including three who died in a short period between October and November. Several serious crashes, including some fatalities, involved vehicles losing control and driving across the median into oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the highway.”
While the Legislature passed and the Governor signed a budget that included more tax cuts and reduced revenue, they once again refused to spend money that protects people from serious injury and death. For the lack of $2.3 million, the state is willing to possibly sacrifice the lives of more people. For a Legislature and Governor who consider themselves “pro-life,” you would think that possibly saving one life is worth much more than $2.3 million. I guess “pro-life” does not extend beyond the womb. Another reflection of New Hampshire’s true motto; the cost of everything, the value of nothing—not even human lives!
Rich DiPentima
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
William Loeb famously plastered the motto, “There is nothing so powerful as truth…” across the front page of his Union Leader. Loeb was MAGA when our current so-called president was still in diapers. Many years after his death, Loeb was revealed—in his own newspaper, by his own daughter—to literally have been a monster.
Now that our so-called president is allegedly back in diapers, the record should again be corrected. The Union Leader won’t do it, so we will. In New Hampshire, there is nothing so powerful as the desire of the wealthy to profit from the labor of others, at no expense to themselves.
The Editor
–=≈=–
A Window Into a Mystery
[Mr. Frost rather rudely omits any salutation. – The Ed.]
Israel and Iran come to mind as I watched the celebration of the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army, the pride that this event brought back to our country, and the goodwill in what the U.S.A. stands for, being contrasted by rioters causing looting, destruction, fires, and pain and suffering. A contrast of our shining light of freedom and opportunity the world followed us into and are still adopting 250 years later against calling the U.S.A. voters for Trump—“Nazism.” What has protected our principles is our military, not just for us, but in countries around the world. Yet, at the same time, we have riots in the streets spurred by organizations like “NO KINGS” and other prominent sponsors of violence via rhetoric calling this administration, again this second time around, “Nazis.” Are they blind to the last election?
What is it about our rule of law nation with checks and balances politically that makes any entity of substance here—“Nazis” in the U.S.A.? Consider the individuals involved in the rioting and what they are protesting to protect. Millions of “illegals,” and dangerously so with many, have entered this country, whom the rioters gave their support.
No sinister intent exists legally when we have quota-based common-sense laws for immigration. As the rioters crash through Los Angeles, they fire bomb, steal, rob people, confront law enforcement, and have seriously hurt people, none of it within our rule of law, whether their actions or beliefs. How did we get here?
It’s planned. When you see signs and riot gear equipment show up in bulk, it points to a preplanned event. Ironically, such actions are often illegal, fear-inducing, and locally destructive to neighbors and society, and may be secretly, and unknowingly, funded by taxpayers. Exactly Nazis like in form and actions. Half of the reporting, foolishly sold and reported by some of the press, is “it’s a peaceful” exercise. Our eyes, mood, and understanding from years of this foolish canard propaganda do not deceive us.
We are watching and changing our awareness nationwide. Our determination to act against this corrupting divergence, one that is wrongly un-American and toward an oligarchy governing as a single, federally controlling party. An entity within a cloud of darkness, hidden in the shadows, trying to control the narrative and against the First Amendment, and fear-based. The other being Trump and his administration are slowly and methodically lifting the lid, trying to shine the light on those behind the hatred of our way of life under our representative democracy that these rioters rejected after our recent election.
Since Trump came down the escalator, he has been persecuted and hated to the extent of being subjected to a systematic, planned, vitriolic character assassination, propaganda, lawfare, and such, he was nearly shot dead from it all. Yes, our eyes, ears, and gut, as Lincoln told us, and stated, “You cannot fool all the people all the time.”
Dems have called Trump’s plight that we all feel and recognize that “those” supporters of Trump’s constitutional policies are “chumps.” They throw abusive due process lawfare again at Trump’s policies. Whether we end up in a new civil war, like Lincoln won and saved our country, or sanity returns, will depend on education, proper understanding, and a commitment to our foundation and the principles we stand for, which many have died protecting for a nation just 250 years old.
It was so hard to see the contrasts of yesterday, June 14th, 2025. Still, I feel it may be just as wonderful, because so many see in the 250th birthday of the army as our country’s sole, with a majority of our citizens voting for “might for right-against evil” leaders rather than “might is right for evil.” We are fed up with the swamp’s attempt to maintain the desperate status quo that these rioters promote. Watching that sickening chaos supported by a few tyrannical plotting powers mongering “KINGS” is just what the country needed yesterday. The difference between blind hate and blind justice is compared to Iran versus Israel.
Stay strong, the fight is not over, but the light in our new morning sun is shining again.
Jeff Frost
Alexandria, N.H.
Jeff,
Thank you for writing. You have often sent us wads of text which have fallen between slapdash and incomprehensible. Clearly you took great pains with this, and we do appreciate that.
Sadly, despite your best efforts, we still find this incomprehensible—even after laboriously scraping off the extra-thick layer of rote, abstract, patriotic verbiage.
You seem to have seen, on June 14th, a glorious display of military might in Washington, against a national backdrop of anarchic chaos. What happened was this: a felonious draft-dodger, looking bored, fought to keep his eyes open as the Pentagon set fire to more than $45 million.
Meanwhile, about five million people gathered in nearly 2,000 demonstrations across the country, many of of them in red states. There were no riots, there were no fires. There were citizens, alarmed by the knowledge that their democracy—such as it is—teeters on a precipice. And yet, despite all that, they were heartened by the tangible, living, undeniable proof that, far from being crazy or alone, they are sane and in the best of company.
Why, then, do we run your letter? So that someone, someday, may find it and better understand how far off-track this country once was.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Netanyahu Is Not Interested in Peace
To the Editor:
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs conflict to stay in office. In Gaza he chose to sacrifice those held hostage to make this a forever war. He has invaded Lebanon and Syria. Unfortunately, those were not enough to keep his coalition together. Two of his coalition partners, Shas and United Torah Judaism, threatened to vote to dissolve parliament, as reported by the Financial Times on June 10th. The next day Israel bombed Iran.
Israel did not just attack Iran’s nuclear site, it assassinated Iran’s lead negotiator in their talks with President Trump. Netanyahu has no interest in a peaceful solution to Iran’s nuclear program. Under President Obama Iran agreed to give up most of its uranium stockpiles and limit its refinement of uranium to peaceful levels under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency. In Trump’s first term, Netanyahu convinced him to tear up the agreement, which freed Iran to make bomb grade uranium. It hasn’t, but it can.
America should no longer support a country bent on instigating wars to allow its criminal head of state to stay in office. It is bad for our standing in the world and puts the Jewish diaspora in danger.
Walter Hamilton
Portsmouth, N.H.
Walter:
As if one criminal head of state weren’t enough, we have two—and they’re in cahoots!
The Editor
–=≈=–
It’s Crimes All the Way Down
To the Editor:
Just as the decades of crimes under Israeli occupation, such as the demolition of homes, arbitrary imprisonment and torture and the destruction of olive groves, do not justify Hamas committing crimes of war against civilians in Israel, the crimes committed by Hamas cannot justify war crimes by Israeli forces.
These include the bombing of hospitals and depriving the civilian population in Gaza of food, water and medical supplies.
As emphasized by United Nations Humanitarian Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher:
“We see war being used to justify massive human suffering. This is unacceptable… . Even wars have rules… . If your principles apply only to your opponents, then they are not humanitarian principles.”
Terry Hansen
Milwaukee, Wisc.
Terry:
This helps explain why the right hates the UN. Officials there can occasionally tell the truth without necessarily getting fired.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Make Corruption Blatant Again
Dear Editor,
My Uncle Gus lived in a country where traffic violations were ignored with a $20 bill folded behind your driver license. Building permits were more expensive, but the process was clear: bribery for government services. America’s strict laws and enforcement penalties prohibited bribery.
No more. After decimating the FBI’s anti-bribery office, trump [sic] institutionalizes bribery. He takes bribes openly: million-dollar tickets to fund-raising dinners, memberships to his private clubs, selling crypto-currency, a $400 million airplane “gift,” and $2 billion invested in his crypto-bank, World Liberty Financial. The wealthy buy government favor, receiving tariff exemptions, financial law deregulation, pardons for felony convictions, and sweetheart government contracts in return.
House Speaker Mike Johnson denied these actions are bribery, saying, “whatever President Trump is doing is out in the open.” Boldfaced flaunting does not minimize bribery. It corrupts our political and moral values, leading to dysfunctional government like the third-world society my Uncle endured.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont, Calif.
Bruce:
We could try to argue that there’s an upside to the blatancy of the corruption; maybe at some point even his base would desert him. Apparently, though, their moral compasses have no needles.
The Editor
–=≈=–
The Would-Be King of Chaos
To the Editor:
Donald Trump’s second term has generated an ongoing series of chaotic events. Ill-conceived tariffs, decimation of federal agencies, demolition of basic science programs, and an obtuse foreign policy have resulted in disorder and confusion. His Gestapo-like immigration enforcement policy has provoked civil unrest in Los Angeles and other areas. The peremptory and unnecessary call-up of federal troops in Los Angeles added to the turmoil which was notable for the manhandling of a U.S. Senator who tried to question the Secretary of Homeland Security at a press conference. The politically motivated murder and shooting of Minnesota state legislators by a deranged MAGA Evangelical underscored the effects of Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric.
Despite these disturbing events, the MAGA base and most Republican legislators continue to support Trump, and no effective opposition has emerged to his policies. Although the courts have ruled against many Trump initiatives, they have been hamstrung by seemingly endless appeals and the lack of any enforcement capability. The Democratic Party seems feckless in opposing Trump’s destructive impulses. Except for Bernie Sanders, no Democratic leader has provided a clear and realistic agenda for challenging Trump. At the age of 83, however, Bernie is an unlikely prospect for leading a vigorous resistance to MAGA Republicans.
Amidst the bad news, the massive No Kings protest movement that swept the country June 14th is a hopeful sign. It is the first organized, large-scale demonstration against Trump’s second term policies with the potential for generating an organized, persistent resistance to the administration’s authoritarian policies. Most elected officials are good at bloviating about well-accepted dogma but are timid in the support of contentious positions with uncertain support. This was clearly shown by the Republican Party’s abdication of conservative principles as Trump gained ascendancy. But politicians ignore at their own risk mass movements that indicate a sea change in voter sensibilities and that is why the No Kings movement is so important.
No Kings must build on its recent success and establish itself as a valid expression of voter sentiment that will be a force in future elections. To accomplish this, it must coalesce around a vision that embodies not only the values of liberal democracy but also extends those values to a re-conceptualization of the economic system that emphasizes the value of all workers and calls for a fair standard of living for all. No Kings should apply to the economic elite who control income and wealth as well as political rulers.
No Kings should avoid a primary focus on personal attacks on Trump. Previous criticisms aimed at his character only rallied his MAGA cult and provoked outcries of a “Trump derangement syndrome” from his supportive media while most voters ignored the criticisms as political rhetoric. Potential voters need to be convinced of how they will benefit from a No Kings agenda that addresses their needs. Trump’s incompetence and greed are relevant but only in the context of how his policies affect voters. No Kings must avoid the circular firing squads that Progressives so often inflict upon themselves. This is not the arena to debate political correctness or arcane DEI issues that most voters either reject or don’t care much about. Progressives need to put aside identity politics and focus on the common threat to democracy that MAGA populism presents.
The economic component of the vision is vital. Trump populism grew out of a sense of resentment caused by perceived economic injustices. His victory in the last election was the result of economic discontent and the failure of the Biden/Harris administration to effectively translate some good legislation into a wider prosperity that included the working class. As James Carville noted, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Economic issues are foundational to political success. That’s an imperative that Democrats seem to have forgotten in recent elections and one that they need to re-learn to be successful once again. Hopefully, No Kings can be the vehicle for their re-birth.
Robert D. Russell, Ph.D.
Harrisburg, Pa.
Robert:
The Republican-Lite party, aka the Democrats, gave up on delivering for ordinary Americans when LBJ, the Democratic “peace candidate,” broke the budget fighting in Vietnam—a war to make the world safe for capitalism.
Now, after a half-century of neoliberalism, with a majority of the country living paycheck-to-paycheck, we’ve got the Republican “peace candidate” risking his coalition of authoritarian cult followers, billionaire maniacs, and religious fanatics, to make the world safe for his fellow criminal, Bibi Netanyahu.
If we get real lucky, MAGA will be too busy fighting among themselves to complete their project of destroying America. The Democrats can then perform their traditional role of trying to fix what the GOP just blew up.
It will go much better if they resume the practice of taxing the rich and delivering for ordinary people. In fact, with things as screwed up as they are, that’s probably their—and our—only hope.
The Editor
–=≈=–
The Wreck of the Royal Mail
To the Editor:
Sir, With the alarm sounded by the recent article “Why the Right Really Hates the Postal Service” (May 30, 2025) readers may be interested in recent developments within the Royal Mail/Post Office in the UK.
Very briefly, in 2013 the Conservative/Liberal coalition government announced that the Royal Mail was to be floated on the London Stock Exchange. It was assigned a new name, International Distribution Services plc.
The initial public offering (IPO) share price was (£3.30) which was later considered to be highly undervalued. Almost as soon as the shares went on the market over 52 percent had been sold to private investors.
The UK government retained a 30 percent stake in the new organization. However by 2015 the government announced it would sell that remaining stake.
By 2024, through complicated share dealings, control of the post office was in the hands of a Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and his investment company (Vesa Equity Investment Sarl) making it the first time in its 500 year history that the British postal system came under foreign, non-public ownership.
Kretinsky has promised to retain Universal Service Obligation (USO) to all customers regardless of their location or ability to pay for five years. After that, one may ask, then what? A tiered service which penalizes rural users? Charges for delivery based upon distances covered?
And so another valuable national asset falls into the hands of a private conglomerate.
Sonali Kolhatkar is correct when she suggests a similar move here could have a profound effect on the level of service offered to the American public.
The former British prime minister Harold Macmillan (a Conservative) speaking in 1985 criticized the then spate of piecemeal privatizations of public utilities under Margaret Thatcher, and likened the disposal of the country’s assets to the occupants of a grand house “selling the family silver.”
“First, all the Georgian silver goes, and then all that nice furniture that used to be in the salon. Then the Canaletto’s go.”
David Severn
Portsmouth, N.H.
P.S. Related to the privatization of the post office and running parallel to it was what became known in the UK as the Horizon software scandal.
Again very briefly, from 1999 onwards this saw the introduction of Horizon, a centralized computer system from a supplier, the Japanese IT/communications giant, Fujitsu. All Post Office branches were connected to this system, replacing the traditional paper-based accounting practices.
Almost immediately after installation of Horizon at Post Office branches, there was an increase in the number of sub-postmasters experiencing accounting shortfalls that they could not explain. Many had never previously experienced such shortfalls. Under the paper-based system, they could track back and find the cause. But not anymore.
Rather than investigate the problems and fix them, the Post Office blamed the branch operators, many of whom it prosecuted for financial crimes.
Between 2000 and 2014, more than 900 postal employees were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting, with some imprisoned and others forced into bankruptcy. It is thought that four suicides have been linked to wrongful convictions.
In essence, the privatization of the Post Office created an environment where the organization’s pursuit of its own interests, coupled with the flawed Horizon system, resulted in a major miscarriage of justice.
The split of the Post Office from Royal Mail, which was part of the privatization process, created a situation where the Post Office was under pressure to modernize and demonstrate its viability, potentially contributing to a rush to implement and rely on the flawed Horizon system.
A lawyer representing post office operators at a national public enquiry suggested that the Horizon scandal was not investigated because, if the growing extent of it had been uncovered, it could have dramatically affected the reputation and commercial position of the Post Office just as it was about to separate the operation from Royal Mail.
Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister in 2024 said, “This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history.”
For those interested an award winning dramatization of the scandal “Mr. Bates vs The Post Office” is available on PBS Passport and other screening platforms.
David:
Ah, yes, Old Blighty, the hatchery of Thatcherism. God forbid we on this side of the pond should ever learn anything by studying the recent history of the country that spawned us.
We can see it now: Louis DeJoy and Jeff Bezos team up to buy the U.S.P.S. Then they subcontract its computer operations to Palantir’s Peter Thiel.
The Editor